Flood rescues as weekend weather turns wild in Clarence

by cmorton

Clair Morton
Journalist
Although I’ve moved around a bit, I’m a Queensland girl at heart with a love of the ocean and the mighty maroons. Since moving to Grafton earlier this year I have fallen in love with the Valley lifestyle. The best part of my job here is getting to know the locals and putting their stories on paper; there is always something going on and so many people with interesting tales to tell.

THREE flood rescues in the Clarence Valley and nearly 5000 homes and businesses left isolated from the Clarence to Nambucca were the result of the weekend's wild weather.

Clarence Nambucca State Emergency Service spokeswoman Jenny Funari said that while localised flooding had cut off access to a number of fringe communities in the region, local SES crews were pleased that they hadn't had a lot of assistance calls from those areas, which indicated they were well-prepared for the weather event.

Areas affected included Coutts Crossing and Nymboida, where about 800 properties were isolated yesterday as residents waited for river levels to recede.

Access to Wooli and Minnie Creek was also limited on Saturday after the coastal villages receiving more than 200mm of rain from Friday to Sunday, flooding Wooli Rd.

According to Weatherzone, Saturday recorded 116.4mm of rain, making it the wettest day at Wooli so far this year.

Grafton saw 106.8mm of rain on the same day, while Yamba recorded 107.4mm.

Both the Ulmarra and Lawrence ferries are expected to be closed until Tuesday due to the high water level.

Ms Funari said most river heights were expected to peak last night, and should be settling this morning.

"There are plenty of people that can't get anywhere but we haven't had a lot of calls from those people which tells us they've been prepared," she said.

"Depending how long the water stays up we might start to get some.

"We're really pleased people know how to stock up and bunker down," Ms Funari said.